There is often a need to perform very small force measurements involving various objects with weak interactions, such as Van der Walls forces, chemical bonding forces and Casimir forces. See, for example, Leckband et al., “Forces controlling protein interactions: theory and experiment,” Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces 14 (August 1999) pgs. 83-97. Conventional measurement techniques in this system are, however, complex and costly.
Therefore, an improved high-sensitivity force gauge would be desirable.